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Two Victors at the FIDE Grand Prix in Baku

The first tournament of the new FIDE Grand Prix Series was scheduled to run from October 1 to 15 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The World Championship series of 2014/15 consists of four tournaments, which is rather extraordinary, as until now a full cycle always has always been made up of six tournaments. The FIDE remains silent and names no reasons for this significant chance. People are speculating, though, that there weren’t enough applicants willing to host the events.

The total prize fund for each tournament holds 120,000 EUR, of which the victor receives 20,000 EUR. Both winner and runner-up are also granted the right to participate in the Candidates’ Tournament.

The tournament in Baku was staffed with twelve top-class super-grandmasters with ELOs of 2700 and above: Dominguez Perez, Tomashevsky, Karjakin, Gelfand, Nakamura, Mamedyarov, Radjabov, Svidler, Andreikin, Caruana, Grischuk, and Kasimdzhanov. Fabiano Caruana with starting number 10 had been the top-favorite competitor all along, holding the highest ELO-rating of 2844 points. Despite having the lowest ELO-rating of all participants, Evgeny Tomashesky managed to obtain a terrific 6th rank.

First rank was shared by Fabiano Caruana (4 victories) from Italy and the Israeli Boris Gelfand (3 victories):

FINAL RESULTS

Rank

SNo.

Name

Rtg

FED

Pts

1

10

Caruana Fabiano

2844

ITA

6½

2

4

Gelfand Boris

2748

ISR

6½

3

3

Karjakin Sergey

2767

RUS

6

4

11

Grischuk Alexander

2797

RUS

6

5

8

Svidler Peter

2732

RUS

6

6

2

Tomashevsky Evgeny

2701

RUS

6

7

5

Nakamura Hikaru

2764

USA

6

8

7

Radjabov Teimour

2726

AZE

5½

9

6

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

2764

AZE

5

10

12

Kasimdzhanov Rustam

2706

UZB

5

11

9

Andreikin Dmitry

2722

RUS

4½

12

1

Dominguez Perez Leinier

2751

CUB

3

The ELO-rating may be an indicator for a player’s strength and abilities, but is certainly not the only measure for a player’s performance. This is quite obvious when studying the rounds’ individual results.

Round 1. October 2, 2014. 3 p.m.

Name

Res.

Name

Dominguez Perez Leinier

½ – ½

Kasimdzhanov Rustam

Tomashevsky Evgeny

½ – ½

Grischuk Alexander

Karjakin Sergey

0 – 1

Caruana Fabiano

Gelfand Boris

1 – 0

Andreikin Dmitry

Nakamura Hikaru

½ – ½

Svidler Peter

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

½ – ½

Radjabov Teimour

Round 2. October 3, 2014. 3 p.m.

Name

Res.

Name

Kasimdzhanov Rustam

½ – ½

Radjabov Teimour

Svidler Peter

1 – 0

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

Andreikin Dmitry

0 – 1

Nakamura Hikaru

Caruana Fabiano

½ – ½

Gelfand Boris

Grischuk Alexander

½ – ½

Karjakin Sergey

Dominguez Perez Leinier

½ – ½

Tomashevsky Evgeny

Round 3. October 4, 2014. 3 p.m.

Name

Res.

Name

Tomashevsky Evgeny

½ – ½

Kasimdzhanov Rustam

Karjakin Sergey

1 – 0

Dominguez Perez Leinier

Gelfand Boris

1 – 0

Grischuk Alexander

Nakamura Hikaru

½ – ½

Caruana Fabiano

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

½ – ½

Andreikin Dmitry

Radjabov Teimour

½ – ½

Svidler Peter

Round 4. October 5, 2014. 3 p.m.

Name

Res.

Name

Kasimdzhanov Rustam

½ – ½

Svidler Peter

Andreikin Dmitry

½ – ½

Radjabov Teimour

Caruana Fabiano

1 – 0

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

Grischuk Alexander

½ – ½

Nakamura Hikaru

Dominguez Perez Leinier

½ – ½

Gelfand Boris

Tomashevsky Evgeny

½ – ½

Karjakin Sergey

Round 5. October 7, 2014. 3 p.m.

Name

Res.

Name

Karjakin Sergey

½ – ½

Kasimdzhanov Rustam

Gelfand Boris

½ – ½

Tomashevsky Evgeny

Nakamura Hikaru

½ – ½

Dominguez Perez Leinier

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

½ – ½

Grischuk Alexander

Radjabov Teimour

½ – ½

Caruana Fabiano

Svidler Peter

½ – ½

Andreikin Dmitry

Round 6. October 8, 2014. 3 p.m.

Name

Res.

Name

Kasimdzhanov Rustam

1 – 0

Andreikin Dmitry

Caruana Fabiano

1 – 0

Svidler Peter

Grischuk Alexander

0 – 1

Radjabov Teimour

Dominguez Perez Leinier

½ – ½

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

Tomashevsky Evgeny

½ – ½

Nakamura Hikaru

Karjakin Sergey

½ – ½

Gelfand Boris

Round 7. October 9, 2014. 3 p.m.

Name

Res.

Name

Gelfand Boris

½ – ½

Kasimdzhanov Rustam

Nakamura Hikaru

0 – 1

Karjakin Sergey

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

½ – ½

Tomashevsky Evgeny

Radjabov Teimour

½ – ½

Dominguez Perez Leinier

Svidler Peter

½ – ½

Grischuk Alexander

Andreikin Dmitry

1 – 0

Caruana Fabiano

Round 8. October 10, 2014. 3 p.m.

Name

Res.

Name

Kasimdzhanov Rustam

½ – ½

Caruana Fabiano

Grischuk Alexander

½ – ½

Andreikin Dmitry

Dominguez Perez Leinier

0 – 1

Svidler Peter

Tomashevsky Evgeny

½ – ½

Radjabov Teimour

Karjakin Sergey

½ – ½

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

Gelfand Boris

½ – ½

Nakamura Hikaru

Round 9. October 12, 2014. 3 p.m.

Name

Res.

Name

Nakamura Hikaru

1 – 0

Kasimdzhanov Rustam

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

1 – 0

Gelfand Boris

Radjabov Teimour

½ – ½

Karjakin Sergey

Svidler Peter

½ – ½

Tomashevsky Evgeny

Andreikin Dmitry

1 – 0

Dominguez Perez Leinier

Caruana Fabiano

0 – 1

Grischuk Alexander

Round 10. October 13, 2014. 3 p.m.

Name

Res.

Name

Kasimdzhanov Rustam

0 – 1

Grischuk Alexander

Dominguez Perez Leinier

0 – 1

Caruana Fabiano

Tomashevsky Evgeny

1 – 0

Andreikin Dmitry

Karjakin Sergey

½ – ½

Svidler Peter

Gelfand Boris

1 – 0

Radjabov Teimour

Nakamura Hikaru

½ – ½

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

Round 11. October 14, 2014. 1 p.m.

Name

Res.

Name

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

½ – ½

Kasimdzhanov Rustam

Radjabov Teimour

½ – ½

Nakamura Hikaru

Svidler Peter

½ – ½

Gelfand Boris

Andreikin Dmitry

½ – ½

Karjakin Sergey

Caruana Fabiano

½ – ½

Tomashevsky Evgeny

Grischuk Alexander

1 – 0

Dominguez Perez Leinier

Italian superstar Fabiano Caruana had to comply with defeats in the duels against Dmitry Andreikin (ELO 2722), Alexander Grischuk (ELO 2797), and Leinier Dominguez Perez (ELO 2751) in rounds 7, 9, and 10. Quite a surprise, considering the fact that Andreikin and Dominguez Perez are in last and second-last place in the final rankings.

Sixteen competitors will participate in the Grand Prix Series. In accordance with the rule set, each player can compete in three of the four tournaments. Along with the twelve participants of Baku, chess enthusiasts can look forward to seeing Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Dmitry Jakovenko, and Ehsan Ghaem Maghani in action. The next tournament of the series is scheduled from October 20 to November 3 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.